Is Handel's Messiah "For Unto Us A Child Is Born" on your spin class play list?

Tonight I was taking my short route home because my wife had some friends call and they wanted to go to dinner with us.  I was riding along listening to random songs from my offline playlist from Spotify and a selection from Handel's Messiah came on.  I played it twice as I rode home.

I am the son of a African Methodist minister and a music teacher.  I was raised to revere theological thought and music.  I can remember learning to sing Handel's Messiah for a Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles as a young child.  On Sundays as a child I would listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the radio and I loved to hear them sing.  I know this may surprise some of you who may be reading this that know me but I have a deep appreciation for classical music.

So today when I was riding home and For Unto Us A Child Is Born came on my blue tooth speaker I was so happy.  I was spinning along and treated the song just like any other song to set my pace and pedal stoke.  I really love the words of this music and the melody of the voices transformed a mundane bike commute home into an inspirational moment.

I stopped to take a picture of one of my favorite "Plantation Gates".  When I am riding down this portion of Old Pretoria Road it is usually dark in the morning or I am taking this route in the afternoon because there is a thunder storm and I am racing to beat the lightening to get home quickly.  Tonight it was not raining and no thunder, so I had time to stop and take a picture.

Resora Resort Main Gate on Old Pretoria Road

Resora Resort Main Gate on Old Pretoria Road

By the way I am listening to the full Handel's Messiah as I write this Blog post.  I am amazed that I remember so much of it even though I have not listened to it in a long time.  I am putting links to the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra's version in this post.  I randomly selected this version from a dozen versions on Spotify.

I rode this morning in a cooler version of riding gear.  Sometimes I like to dress for stress during the winter.  What I do is instead of dressing warm and riding slow when it is cold, I dress to the minimum and ride fast (for me at 63 years old).  My thoughts are that when I am warm and comfortable I ride slower because I can stand the cold longer.  When I dress with less then I ride faster to stay warm and I also want to get to work faster before I get really cold.  Below are my ride statistics just in case you were wondering.

All in all this year my wife and I are having more opportunities to go out to dinner with friends during the week.  I told my wife that all she has to do is tell me before I get on my bike that she has dinner plans and I will take the short route home.  I have the personality to only want to ride my bike for the mileage no matter what, but this year I am opting to mellow out quite a bit.  For me bike commuting has to be fun and efficient.  That means that I have to have the mentality of convenience and use the bike just like a car.  I want to be as mobile and flexible as if I had my car.  This allows me to ride my bike and make changes for the impromptu dinner plans in the evening.  Living in a small town like Albany allows me to enjoy bike commuting on country roads and the flexibility to get home fast when I need to.